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Monthly Archives: August 2011
EngQuizzitive-1.30 : Sub-verb agreement
Answers
- Cats have a third eyelid.It’s called a haw and you will probably only see the haw when your cat doesn’t feel well.
- A number of people have written in about this subject. [Explanation : The expression the number is followed by a singular verb while the expression a number is followed by a plural verb. ]
- Neither Jenny nor the others are /were available.
- Excitement, as well as nervousness, is the cause of her shaking.
- The number of people we need to hire is thirteen.
Sub-Verb agreement template
The basic rule states that a singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject takes a plural verb.
NOTE: The trick is in knowing whether the subject is singular or plural. The next trick is recognizing a singular or plural verb.Hint: Verbs do not form their plurals by adding an s as nouns do. In order to determine which verb is singular and which one is plural, think of which verb you would use with he or she and which verb you would use with they.
Example: talks, talk
Which one is the singular form? Which word would you use with he? We say, “He talks.” Therefore, talks is singular. We say, “They talk.” Therefore, talk is plural.
Rule 1.Two singular subjects connected by or or nor require a singular verb.
eg. My aunt or my uncle is arriving by train today.
Rule 2. Two singular subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor require a singular verb as in Rule 1.
eg. Neither Juan nor Carmen is available.
Rule 3 : When I is one of the two subjects connected by either/or or neither/nor, put it second and follow it with the singular verb am.
eg. Neither she nor I am going to the festival.
Rule 4: When a singular subject is connected by or or nor to a plural subject, put the plural subject last and use a plural verb.
eg. The serving bowl or the plates go on that shelf.
Rule 5 : When a singular and plural subject are connected by either/or or neither/nor, put the plural subject last and use a plural verb.
eg. Neither Jenny nor the others are available.
Rule 6: As a general rule, use a plural verb with two or more subjects when they are connected by and.
eg. A car and a bike are my means of transportation.
Rule 7 : Sometimes the subject is separated from the verb by words such as along with, as well as, besides, or not. Ignore these expressions when determining whether to use a singular or plural verb.
eg. The politician, along with the newsmen, is expected shortly.
Rule 8 : The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, and somebody are singular and require singular verbs. Do not be misled by what follows of.
eg. Each of the girls sings well.
Rule 9 : Use a singular verb with sums of money or periods of time.
Ten dollars is a high price to pay.
Rule 10 : Sometimes the pronoun who, that, or which is the subject of a verb in the middle of the sentence. The pronouns who, that, and which become singular or plural according to the noun directly in front of them. So, if that noun is singular, use a singular verb. If it is plural, use a plural verb.
eg. Salma is the scientist who writes/write the reports.
The word in front of who is scientist, which is singular. Therefore, use the singular verb writes.
Rule 11 : Collective nouns such as team and staff may be either singular or plural depending on their use in the sentence.
The staff is in a meeting.
Staff is acting as a unit here.
The staff are in disagreement about the findings.
The staff are acting as separate individuals in this example.
The begining of everything …….
Long long before Zeus and his siblings came to rule, and even longer before this world came into being, there existed a vast emptiness of nothing, called Kaos . This is from where we get the modern word, ‘chaos’. Some stories say that the Goddess of All Living Things, Gaia was born from Kaos. It is from Gaia that we get the root “geo” part in words like ‘geography’, ‘geology’ etc.
Gaia married Oranos, (in Roman Mythology we know him as Uranus), the god of the Sky. Oranos was known as The First One. Together, they produced a race of powerful gods called the Titans, and this is from where we get the word “Titanic” (now you can think of the film!). Oranos and Gaia also produced fearsome one eyed creatures called Cyclopes, and this forms the origin of word like cycle, cyclone, encyclopaedia (circular or complete knowledge) etc. They also were the parents of the terrible Hundred Handed Ones (who had fifty heads each!)
The First Couple had a great many children. But let’s focus on their Titan ones for now. They were known as the Twelve Titans – five brothers and seven sisters. The youngest, wiliest and cruelest of them all was Cronos. Next time, we shall see how Cronos overthrew Oranos and became the ruler of the Gods and about Oranos’ prophecy for his youngest son.
Origin of Greek myths
Ever wondered where myths come from in the first place? Who wrote them and how they survived these thousands of years? Let’s find out.
Myths have been passed through the ages in the form of plays, scriptures, art and the big daddy of them all – the Epic. An Epic is a very long and detailed poem usually centred on the great adventures of a particular hero. For example, in Hindu Mythology, we have the two great epics – The Ramayana and the Mahabharata which are about two incarnations of Vishnu, Rama and Krishna.
Similarly in Greek Mythology we have two important epics called the Illiad and the Odyssey. They were written by a blind poet called Homer. We know precious little about him and his life. The Illiad is about the great Trojan War and this is from where we get the famous story of the Trojan Horse. The hero of this epic being Achilles, the legendary warrior who had one fatal weakness. This is from where we get the idiom, “Achilles heel”. The war was fought over Helen of Troy, who was carried away by Paris, the Trojan prince from her kingdom of Sparta. She was so beautiful, they say her face “launched a thousand ships”.
The Odyssey details the wanderings of Odysseus, the lone survivor of the Trojan War and his wanderings and attempts to get home to his wife and family.
Next time, with a little bit of help from Homer, we shall find out who ruled the world before Zeus and his siblings came along.
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